Nearly 30 years old, the Blaster Master series peaked on the NES and spent decades trying to recapture the magic. And part of that game’s success was the incredible soundtrack! Let’s listen to some classic jams and then explore the series’ Sega, PlayStation and Switch sequels.

6 Responses to “VGMpire 133 – Blaster Master Bonanza”

I bought Blasting Again and Critters at Toys R Us, and I’m certain those were the last games I ever bought there. I don’t know if those bargain games were only sold there, or why I would have gone out of my way to get to a Toys R Us. The music you played reminded me of Taito’s Zuntata music on the Playstation and Saturn, like Layer Section or Darius, or a little like Bust a Move.

I remember playing the original Blaster Master at a friend’s birthday sleepover, getting to the sixth level, I think, with ice, and stupid little sluggy creatures attacking all the time, and spending a long time not getting through the level. I went to get some more pop, or something, and got the controller cord caught on my foot, which yanked the system, and reset the game. I don’t think I ever played Blaster Master again after that, and I definitely never beat it. The boss music is so short that I think they knew you’d just lob a grenade and pause to kill the boss, so they didn’t bother making more music.

Holy crap, I can’t believe someone else talked about the Blaster Master book! I didn’t even think that anyone else knew that existed! Oh, and the kid in the book most definitely has to fight and kill his mutated pet frog as one of the bosses. I read this book in grade school and I remember getting really choked up by that scene.

Brett,
Loved this episode. I like how you started the show with the same Blaster Master track that Legacy Music Hour uses. I was half-expecting you to come in doing a Brent Weinbach impression. That ending track really had a Bo or Ippo feel from the late SMS/early Genesis era. Great feels!

I agree that the BM2 stuff for the Genesis was just okay. And I also kinda liked the PS tunes for what they were. But man, the BM0 stuff was phenomenal! I’m surprised nobody mentioned ‘dat Sunsoft Bass’, because Ippo Yamada very purposefully used that font as an homage to Sunsoft’s influence on 8-bit era game music……even though the original BM predated that sound.

Glad you gave the shout out to Pixelated Audio! You should check out PA episode 60; they had me on as a guest to talk about Herzog Zwei, and they sprung a surprise interview with composer Tomomi Otani on me! It wasn’t my best moment, but the music was all top-notch.

This episode somehow slipped under my radar! I love the original Blaster Master but never finished it ’cause the lack of a password / save system was…murderous. Still, I love Kodaka’s music and just goes further to show that Sunsoft was one of the masters of NES composition.

I’m really stoked to try out Blaster Master Zero once I finish Breath of the Wild. The title screen music alone is really sick! I met Ippo-san at MAGFest 2016, really nice guy — when he heard who I worked for he mentioned he did the original sound effects for RE1. He also did some music porting for SSFII SNES in his early days. He was also the one who got most of the original MM composers together to contribute a Robot Master track to MM10. Super stoked to hear more from him!

Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that what got me into Blaster Master in the first place was Vomitron’s exceptional metal medley of it from a while back. I still get emotional hearing their version of the ending theme. (NSFW album cover) – https://vomitron665.bandcamp.com/track/blaster-master